When we think about the responsibilities of a shepherd, we naturally think about caring for the sheep. A good shepherd feeds them, leads them, and pays attention to their needs. But there is another responsibility that is just as important. A shepherd must protect the sheep.
Jesus said, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep” (John 10:11). He didn’t simply provide for His sheep. He laid down His life for them. His sacrifice was far greater than anything a human shepherd could offer, but His love is the ultimate example for those called to pastoral ministry. A shepherd doesn’t protect the sheep because he enjoys fighting wolves. He protects them because he loves the sheep.
In this series, The Six Jobs of a Pastor, we’ve considered the pastor as shepherd, preacher, leader, and equipper. Now we come to another essential responsibility: the pastor as guardian. Guarding the church isn’t primarily about looking for problems, confronting people, or defending our personal preferences. It’s about recognizing the extraordinary value of what God has entrusted to us and accepting the responsibility to protect it.
In Acts 20:28–31, Paul gives the elders of the church at Ephesus a sobering reminder of that responsibility. He tells them the church was purchased with Christ’s own blood, warns them of coming dangers, and urges them to stay watchful. His words give every pastor three responsibilities: guard yourself, guard the flock, and guard with love.
Guard Yourself Before Guarding the Flock
Paul begins with an interesting instruction. Before telling the elders to watch over the congregation, he tells them to watch themselves: “Therefore take heed to yourselves …” (Acts 20:28). A pastor cannot faithfully protect a congregation while neglecting his own spiritual health and integrity. Some of the greatest damage churches experience comes not from outside opposition but from the moral failure of those entrusted with leading them. We have all seen the heartbreaking results when a pastor is disqualified from ministry. Churches are wounded, families are devastated, and the testimony of Christ suffers.
That is why guarding ourselves must be intentional. In 1948, Billy Graham and his evangelistic team adopted what became known as the Modesto Manifesto, a set of commitments that included safeguards for sexual integrity and financial accountability. Graham understood that good intentions are not enough, and pastors need safeguards too: wise boundaries in relationships with the opposite sex, transparent financial practices, and people who have permission to ask us difficult questions and expect honest answers. Pastors can become isolated, especially when everyone else turns to them for guidance. But no one is beyond temptation, and no one should navigate ministry alone.
Guarding ourselves also means protecting our closest relationships. In Choosing to Cheat, Andy Stanley argues that we cannot give unlimited attention to every responsibility, because something will receive less than it deserves. In ministry, too often that something is our family. A pastor who sacrifices his marriage or neglects his children in the name of ministry has misunderstood one of his most important responsibilities. Sometimes the greatest threat to our long-term effectiveness isn’t a dramatic moral failure but the slow neglect of what God has already entrusted to us. Guarding ourselves isn’t selfish. It’s part of faithfully guarding the flock.
Guard the Flock From Outside and Inside
After telling the elders to watch themselves, Paul turns to the congregation. “Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock” (Acts 20:28). He reminds them that the church belongs to God, then warns them: “For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock” (Acts 20:29). Others, he adds, will rise up from within the congregation, speaking things that draw people away from the truth. Danger can come from outside the church, and it can grow within it. A guardian’s task is to recognize it before it does lasting damage.
Protecting Biblical Truth
In Titus 1:9, Paul describes a spiritual leader as one who holds firmly to sound doctrine and is able to correct those who contradict it. I love studying the broader church in America, and between that study and my travels, I’ve noticed a growing lack of biblical knowledge and the vulnerability to doctrinal compromise that comes with it. We live in a culture that treats truth as subjective, and as cultural Christianity fades, we can no longer count on familiarity with the faith to produce conviction.
When I taught Theology 1 at Mission University, I began the first day with a simple question: Do you know what you believe and why you believe it? It was obvious that many students didn’t know how to answer both halves of that question. My goal was that by the end of the semester, and certainly by the time they graduated, they could. Unfortunately, many pastors can’t answer it either, and an even greater number of church members can’t.
This is where guarding and equipping meet. Paul wants believers to grow up so that they are no longer “tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine” (Ephesians 4:14). Pastors protect the flock by teaching what Scripture says and how to recognize teaching that contradicts it. Some of the most important work of a guardian happens long before a problem develops. Faithful biblical teaching, intentional discipleship, and healthy accountability help protect a congregation before danger ever arrives.
But we need a caution. Guarding sound doctrine is not the same as defending every personal conviction or ministry preference. Pastors must distinguish between biblical essentials, important doctrinal disagreements, and matters where faithful Christians may reasonably differ. Not every disagreement is heresy. Not every criticism is rebellion. And not every new idea is a threat. A guardian needs both conviction and discernment. The challenge for pastors is knowing which issues require us to take a stand and which simply require us to extend grace.
When Protecting the Church Becomes Personal
I learned this early in my ministry. While I was pastoring a young church in the Flint, Michigan, area, a man began attending who was personable, charismatic, and quickly well-liked. When you’re pastoring a new church, you appreciate every person who walks through the door, and he seemed like an ideal addition. But as his influence grew, he began promoting a doctrinal position that contradicted our church’s stated beliefs.
That put me in a difficult spot. He was well-liked, and addressing the issue risked upsetting people and losing someone influential. It would have been easier to let it slide. But I had to remind myself that my responsibility wasn’t simply to grow the congregation. It was to protect the people God had entrusted to my care. After talking with other church leaders, we addressed it. The conversation didn’t go well. His demeanor changed dramatically, and he eventually left the church in considerable conflict. It wasn’t pleasant, and it certainly wasn’t what I wanted. But looking back, I believe it was necessary. Sometimes guarding the flock means making decisions that are hard in the moment but essential for the church’s long-term health.
Guard the Unity of the Church
Not every threat to a congregation involves false doctrine. Sometimes the greatest danger is division. An old military strategy is to divide and conquer, and an enemy who can’t defeat a united group may try to weaken it from within. Satan understands the destructive power of division in the church.
I’ve emphasized unity in both churches where I served as lead pastor. In Michigan, we were bringing two congregations together to form one new church, with different histories, traditions, and expectations. In Texas, I became pastor of a congregation that had experienced a devastating moral failure involving its previous pastor. In both places, I learned that unity doesn’t happen automatically. It takes intentional leadership and sometimes difficult decisions.
Shortly after arriving in Texas, I faced one of those decisions. One of the church’s largest ministries had been established years earlier and was led by someone who had invested heavily in it. He asked about separating it from the church and establishing it as an independent organization. It wasn’t a small decision, because so many people were involved. I sought counsel from the church’s founding pastor and other leaders, and after careful consideration, we concluded that allowing the separation was not in the church’s best interests. I shared that decision with him. He strongly disagreed, and in the end his entire family left the church.
That was painful. I didn’t want to lose a family, especially in a congregation that had already been through so much hurt. There are times when a church may appropriately release a ministry to operate independently. The issue wasn’t that independence is always wrong. It was what we believed was right for that congregation at that time.
What I’ve learned is that protecting unity doesn’t mean avoiding every disagreement. Biblical unity isn’t the absence of conflict. It’s a shared commitment to Christ, His Word, and His mission. We must never confuse it with protecting appearances. Legitimate concerns must be heard, wrongdoing must be addressed, and accountability must remain a priority. A healthy church isn’t one where everyone always agrees. It’s one where people stay committed to Christ and to one another even when hard decisions have to be made.
Guard With Love
Perhaps the most important part of Paul’s instruction comes at the end. After warning the Ephesian elders of the dangers ahead, he reminds them of his own example: “Therefore watch, and remember that for three years I did not cease to warn everyone night and day with tears” (Acts 20:31).
With tears
I love that picture of Paul’s heart. He wasn’t looking for an argument or trying to prove his authority. He loved those people, and his warnings came from genuine concern for their spiritual well-being. That is the heart every pastor needs. It’s possible to become so focused on protecting truth that we begin treating people as enemies. It’s also possible to become so concerned with keeping relationships that we refuse to confront real spiritual danger. Neither reflects biblical guardianship. Compassion without courage may leave the flock vulnerable. Courage without compassion may wound the very people we’re called to protect.
When I think back on my experiences, I don’t remember them as victories. I remember the weight of the decisions and the pain of seeing relationships damaged. I wish every difficult conversation ended in repentance and reconciliation, but it doesn’t. Even so, our motivation should remain the same: love for Christ and love for His people.
The Flock Belongs to Christ
That brings us back to John 10. Jesus showed the greatest possible love for His sheep by laying down His life for them, and Paul reminds the Ephesian elders that the church they shepherded was purchased with His blood. What an extraordinary responsibility. The people we pastor don’t belong to us. They belong to Jesus, and we are entrusted with their care for a season. So we recognize danger, preserve biblical truth, protect unity, and guard our own lives so we can serve faithfully, without ever losing the heart of a shepherd.
Guard yourself. Guard the flock. Guard with love.
Perhaps the question every pastor should ask is this: Am I faithfully protecting the people Christ has entrusted to me, or am I sometimes protecting myself from the discomfort of doing what is necessary?
A shepherd doesn’t protect the sheep because he enjoys fighting wolves. He protects them because he loves the sheep. That is the responsibility of the pastor as guardian, and it is worthy of our very best.
But a pastor’s responsibility doesn’t end with protecting the church from spiritual danger. He must also show through his own life what faithful Christian living looks like. In the next article, we’ll examine the sixth job of a pastor: Example.
Click here to read The Six Jobs of a Pastor, Part 1: One Calling. Many Responsibilities.
Click here to read The Six Jobs of a Pastor, Part 2: Shepherd
Click here to read The Six Jobs of a Pastor, Part 3: Preacher
Click here to read The Six Jobs of a Pastor, Part 4: Leader
Click here to read The Six Jobs of a Pastor, Part 5: Equipper
Click here to read The Six Jobs of a Pastor, Part 6: Guardian
Click here to read The Six Jobs of a Pastor, Part 7:
Click here to read The Six Jobs of a Pastor, Part 8:
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